Pretoria - A 23-year-old Pretoria man has been arrested after snippets of a video of two men mocking efforts to curb the Covid-19 virus and bragging about not complying with laws went viral, the police said on Sunday.
The man was arrested for allegedly contravening the Regulations of the Disaster Management Act 2002.
On 27 March 2020 snippets of a video in which two young men are seen travelling around Pretoria with one of them continuously swearing, mocking efforts to curb the coronavirus and bragging they do not comply with laws during South Africa's 21-day went viral.
In one of the snippets, one man appears to be standing in front of a police station and continued swearing about the coronavirus.
"This matter was investigated and the suspect was traced and found inside a residential complex in the Lyttelton policing area," said police spokesman Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo.
The suspect is likely to face charges of at least contravening Regulation 11B of the Disaster Management Act 2002. He is currently in police custody and he is expected to appear in the Pretoria Magistrates Court on Monday.
"The arrest of this suspect as well as at least six other suspects, that have been arrested for creating such videos and posting fake news, should be a reminder that the Security Forces enforcing the regulations to contain the Covid-19 virus have the capacity and capability to identify those responsible for such transgressions, however long it may take," Naidoo said.
"The regulations are being enforced not to punish people but to protect lives against this pandemic."
Last week four people were arrested in Stinkwater, North West for allegedly insulting Police Minister Bheki Cele in a video shared on social media.
In the video posted on Twitter, in which one man wore a mask, Cele was blamed by one woman for not having a boyfriend and another said he caused her stress. A reference was also made to the police minister's genitals.